Magnetic Attraction 30 (Patreon)

Magnetic Attraction
Chapter 30

-VB-

Reconstruction of the city was well on its way.

The city also had more jobs, some temporary but many permanent thanks to the new businesses I’ve brought to the city, and people had money and food.

The problem, of course, lay with the gangs. They thrived off of chaos and poverty. Prosperity was the antithesis of a criminal gang’s lifeline. Though the biggest of them was gone, small gangs remained. Thankfully, most of them lacked the parahuman muscles the big ones had.

Did their lack of firepower make them wiser?

Not really.

A gangster screamed as he flew through the air and splashed into the ocean.

“Shit, shit, shit, this ain’t the promised job!” another one shrieked as he pulled out a Glock and began to unload it at me.

I did nothing as my reactive defense iron dust cloud ground the bullets away into nothing. I lashed out with a tendril of the same iron dust cloud and sliced through the pistol. Both of us and others in the pier watched as the severed gun dropped from the gangster’s hand and clattered on the wooden floorboards as they came apart after landing.

“Really,” I muttered to myself as I took control of all of the other guns still held in the hands of the gangsters and yanked them away. “You’d think that the small bad gangsters would learn and know when to quit, but they really don’t.” With a snap of my fingers, the guns all slammed into each other into a ball above me. Then I raised my voice. “I’ll give all of you a single chance to surrender. If you don’t, then you may acquire the following injuries but not limited to laceration, broken bones, scratches, bruises, dismemberment, loss of fingers and or toes, and possibly death. I’m not a cop, and this private property is under contract with Anders. Don’t expect me to go easy on you if you do something stupid.”

The nine gangsters hesitated before they slowly got to their knees and put their hands behind their heads.

No more than a minute later, the regular police - not the PRT - arrived in record time.

“Eisenfeld, is that you?” an approaching police officer asked. I turned around and nodded. My face was still hidden in the artificially darkened space underneath my hood. “Yes,” I replied. “I was also the one who called.”

The police officer and his partner nodded as more cops arrived. They quickly inspected the gangsters, noted the guns, and found the plastic box filled to the brim with both legal and illict drugs.

The cops, now five in total, began to cuff the gangsters and led them to the cruisers.

“You do good work, Eisenfeld,” the first cop who’d talked to me, a black man with a walrus mustache with his name “Edwards” displayed along with his rank of corporal, chortled. “You don’t even leave behind collateral damage for us to record.”

I shrugged. “Shredding bullets while it travels through the air is a new trick I learned. I thought it might be fun to show off.”

Corporal Edwards paused as he digested what I’ve just said and paled a little. “Shredding bullets, huh?”

“Oh yeah, speaking of which. Most bullets are made out of lead, right? There might be a bit of lead contamination because of what I did.”

He grimaced. “Maybe don’t do that, then. Lead poisoning is a serious thing, and a lot of children visit this pier.”

“Of course, of course. I never meant to do lasting harm.”

He shrugged. “It’s just one bullet. I don’t think it should be a problem if you don’t make it a habit. Also, can’t you catch bullets?”

“Bullets are not magnetic, officer. It’d make my life easier if they were. But guns…” I glanced over at the pile of guns that the other police officers started to dig through. “Most of them have steel components.”

He nodded. “Well, how did this start?” he asked me as he pulled out a notepad.

-VB-

Brockton Bay calmed down since the Tragedy of Travelers.

Sure, there were still gangsters running about, proclaiming to be the next Lung or Kaiser like the idiots I arrested earlier today, but it was overall a quieter city, especially since I spent a little less time fucking and more time patrolling.

I was a Triumvirate-level cape, though some people tried to argue that, but I was strong enough to hold my ground against an Endbringer. My words and actions held sway, and today, I introduced Sola.

Yes, Sola had a very similar Blaster power, though weaker and she didn’t become a lamp (as a result of Kayden’s new costume but no one but we knew that). Yes, she also had the same height. No, she was not Purity. She was Sola, a very valued member of the Anders Patrol Team.

Slowly, I made my progress.